Sampson Strikes Out 7 In Another Curve Win

Sampson Strikes Out 7 In Another Curve Win

Pitcher Adrian Sampson earns his 3rd win of the year, while the Altoona offense brings in 7 runs against Harrisburg.

ALTOONA – The Altoona Curve continued to impress on both sides of the diamond on Tuesday night by defeating the Harrisburg Senators 7-0. Right handed pitcher Adrian Sampson dazzled for the Curve with six shutout innings and tied a career-high with seven strikeouts. The shutout by the Curve pitching staff was the first of the season. Offensively, Altoona matched their season-high in hits with 14.

The Curve continued the trend of first inning runs against the Senators by taking an early lead. After Alen Hanson led off the inning with a bunt single up the first base side, Gift Ngoepe followed with his second double in as many days that scored Hanson from first.

In the second, Altoona added three more runs to take a 4-0 lead. Jarek Cunningham and Drew Maggi led off the inning with back-to-back singles and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Sampson. After Hanson hit an infield single that scored Cunningham from third, Ngoepe reached on a walk. With runners on the corners, Mel Rojas, Jr. hit a single up the middle that scored Maggi and Hanson.

The scoring continued in the fourth and sixth for Altoona. After Hanson ripped his third triple of the season on the first pitch he saw, he scored when Ngoepe followed with a sacrifice fly. Stetson Allie followed with his third home run of the season.

A host of offensive players stepped up in the win against the Senators. Hanson finished the game 3-for-5 with three runs and an RBI. Ngoepe tallied a 2-for-3 night with a double, two RBI, a walk, and a run scored. Allie went 3-for-5 with his third home run of the season, and Rojas went 2-for-3 with three RBI.

Sampson (3-1) earned the win after tying a career-high with seven strikeouts. In each of the innings that he worked, he struck out at least one batter and, with the six shutout frames, lowered his ERA to 1.17. Felipe Rivero (0-4) took the loss for the Senators.

Altoona (7-9) and Harrisburg (4-12) will continue their four-game series Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Wednesday’s ball game will be a 4-Pack Wednesday presented by WALY 103.9. Fans who come to the game can purchase four tickets, four hot dogs, and four regular sodas for only $35. Additionally, it will be a M&T Bank Customer Appreciation Wednesday. Any fans who show their M&T Bank Card will get $2 off the purchase of their ticket.

Altoona will send RHP Nick Kingham (1-1, 0.53 ERA) to the mound to start the game and he will square off against Harrisburg RHP Rob Gilliam (0-0, 5.63).

--Altoona Curve Media Relations

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